Decimal separator
The langconfig file is an important file in a language pack, dealing with all the configuration parameters of that language, including the decimal separator.
The original Moodle code in English uses a decimal point as a separator, but some countries (and their language packs) might use a decimal comma.
Countries where a dot "." is used as decimal mark:
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- Botswana
- British West Indies
- Brunei
- Canada (when using English)
- China, People's Republic of
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- Ghana
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- India
- Ireland
- Israel
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kenya
- Korea (both North and South)
- Lebanon
- Luxembourg (uses both marks officially)
- Macau (in Chinese and English text)
- Malaysia
- Malta
- Mexico
- Mongolia
- Nepal
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Palestine
- Panama
- Philippines
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Uganda
- United Kingdom
- United States (including insular areas)
- Zimbabwe
Countries where a comma "," is used as decimal mark:
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Angola
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Cameroon
- Canada (when using French)
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Croatia (comma used officially, but both forms are in use)
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- East Timor
- Ecuador
- Estonia
- Faroes
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Georgia
- Greece
- Greenland
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Kosovo
- Kyrgyzstan
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg (uses both marks officially)
- Macau (in Portuguese text)
- Macedonia
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
If a language pack uses a comma (,) as a decimal separator, it must use a semicolon (;) as a list separator, or serious errors might happen.
Problems with language packs using a decimal comma
It is not uncommon for Moodle users with a language pack that has a comma used as a decimal separator to experience problems when using formulas copied from the Moodle English online and built-in documentation.
Gradebook problems
The Gradebook calculations might use "=average(item1, item2, item3, item4, item5, item6)" which is easy to understand and use in English, but a teacher with (for example) the international spanish (es) language pack will strugle until he/she realizes that this formula should be changed to "=average(item1; item2; item3; item4; item5; item6)"
Problem fixing
A Moodle adminer who uses a language pack with a decimal comma must check the langconfig file] and make shure that the decsep, listsep and thounsandsep characters are properly set for the language or use the [[Language customization] to fix his/her server.
...to be continued...
